Sustainability leader shares booklist

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

“Respect for the future. That’s what it boils down to,” said David Oakey, a leader in sustainable design who presented the University Distinguished Lecture that keynoted the Interior Design Student Symposium at K-State.

“We plunder the Earth to make money,” he said during his recent speech in the Student Union. He listed practices that harm future generations: over population, over consumption, depletion of fossil fuels, and world-wide consumption of fresh water.

“Sometimes I think we are in denial,” he said. “We once lived in harmony with the Earth. Now we are disconnected with the natural world.”

“I firmly believe we can change our ways,” he added. “We can make money and be sustainable.”

He called on designers to use their voices to encourage self discipline and discourage monocultural thinking. He offered five steps to sustainability:

1. Reject unsustainable practices. Ask yourself “What if everybody did this?”
2. Reduce and conserve. “Waste is lost profit,” he said. “It is probably the biggest problem we have in the world, especially in the United States.”
3. Recycle, although he stressed that recycling takes energy, too.
4. Focus on renewable energy such as wind.
5. Redesign products that can be dismantled and reused or recycled. This, he said, calls for a change in business models.

Oakey dotted his multi-media presentation with references to books that he said impart sustainability sensibilities. We asked him for his top recommendations:

Anderson, Ray. Mid-Course Correction. Peregrinzilla Press, 1999.

This is the personal story of Anderson’s realization that businesses need to embrace principles of sustainability, and of his efforts to apply these principles within a billion dollar corporation. Oakey is a designer for Anderson’s company. From book jacket.

Benyus, Janine. Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. Morrow, 1997.

The author demonstrates how nature’s solutions to survival needs have been the creative jumping-off points for individuals seeking solutions to human challenges, developing, or simply revitalizing processes or products.

Seuss, Dr. The Lorax. Random House, 1971.

“UNLESS someone like you…cares a whole awful lot…nothing is going to get better…It’s not.” Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth’s natural beauty. From jacket.

Capra, Fritjof. The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living. Archer Books, 2002.

“Capra has forged an interesting book, which challenges conventional wisdom, provides insights into social and economic pitfalls and offers some light at the end of the tunnel.” — The Sunday Times (London)

Deutschman, Alan. Change or Die. Collins, 2007.

The author “deconstructs and debunks age-old myths about change and empowers us with three critical keys—relate, repeat, and reframe—to help us make important positive changes in our lives.” From book jacket.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin, 1962.

In 1962, Carson exposed the dangers of DDT and other pesticides. Her book became a bestseller and stimulated widespread public debate. The controversy inaugurated five government inquiries, launched the Environmental Protection Agency, and led to the banning of DDT and several other pesticides. Her book also increased public awareness of environmental issues, heralding an entirely new public awareness of ecological problems in the United States and around the world. From book jacket.

Hartmann, Thom. The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight (revised). Three Rivers Press, 2004.

This book inspired Leonardo DiCaprio’s web movie “Global Warning.” Hartmann details what is happening to our planet, the reasons for our culture’s blind behavior, and how we can fix the problem, according to the book jacket.

Hawken, Paul. The Ecology of Commerce. HarperCollins, 1993.

Hawken, the entrepreneur behind the Smith & Hawken gardening supplies empire, crusades to reform our economic system by demanding that First World businesses drastically reduce consumption of energy and resources and conduct themselves so the planet’s needs are allowed to flourish.

Hawken, Paul, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism. Little, Brown, 1999.

Three top environmental strategists call for a business approach based on the principle that business can be good for the environment.

Hertel, Heinrich. Structure Form and Movement. Reinhold, 1963.

Out of print.

Kiuchi, Tachi and Bill Shireman. What We Learned in the Rainforest: Business Lessons from Nature. Berrett-Koehler, 2002.

The authors argue that by applying strategies and practices gleaned from nature – by emulating what it once sought to conquer – big business can attain greater and more sustainable profits. They show how a company can become, like nature, a complex living system that doesn’t merely balance competing interests but truly integrates them. From Amazon.com.

Koren, Leonard. Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers. Stone Bridge Press, 1994.

“Perfectly conveys the Zen simplicity and stillness,” wrote one reviewer.

Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books, 2005.

Louv calls for a “nature-child” reunion as he links children’s alienation from nature to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, stress, depression, anxiety disorders and childhood obesity. “He recommends that we reacquaint our children and ourselves with nature through hiking, fishing, bird-watching and disorganized, creative play,” wrote a reviewer for Scientific American.

Roszak, Theodore. The Voice of the Earth. Phanes Press, 2001.

Roszak elaborates on the conflict between our devaluation of the natural world and the contemporary model of the universe as a web of open, evolving, and interrelated systems. Using the term “ecopsychology,” he makes a thought-provoking contribution to the search for an ecologically sound way of being in the world. Adapted from Reed Business Information.

Vogel, Steven. Cats’ Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People. Norton, 1998.

Vogel teaches biology, specializing in biomechanics, at Duke University. He compares the engineering talents of nature to the engineering talents of man, examining differences and similarities.

Wilson, Edward O. Biophilia. Harvard University Press, 1986.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and one of the country’s foremost evolutionary biologists, Wilson defines “biophilia” as the innate tendency [in human beings] to focus on life and lifelike process. “[Wilson] relies on his own experiences and feelings as a field biologist, cleverly interweaving them with the facts, history, and philosophy of evolutionary biology and an eclectic set of cultural observations.” From review by Paul R. Ehrlich in Natural History.

Yeang, Ken. The Green Skyscraper. The Basis for Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings. New York: Prestel, 1999.

Architect Yeang says skyscrapers can be part of the solution to environmental problems…”he places technical emphasis on passive design approaches including natural ventilation, daylighting, and ‘vertical landscaping’ to reduce energy use. A brief discussion of life-cycle analysis forms the backdrop to strategies for minimizing the embodied energy of steel, glass, and concrete by designing for easy deconstruction and recycling/reuse of buildings or component parts.” From book jacket.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 and is filed under Dean's Blog.

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